Top News Stories –

Google purchases abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com –
Google has purchased the domain name abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com in the wake of its restructuring as Alphabet, continuing its domain purchase spree. The company launched conglomerate Alphabet’s site on ABC.xyz back in August, a move which saw the internet giant cleave its core YouTube, search, Android and email business from its ambitious research divisions, including the secretive Google X labs division. Domaininvesting.com noted that abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com was originally created in 1999, and that Google is now registered as the owner of the site under Whois records. Alphabet’s home page is abc.xyz, so the company now has one of the longest domain names around as well as one of the shortest. However, the site notes, it’s unlikely that even Google will be able to pursuade BMW to sell them alphabet.com, or news network ABC to give up ABC.com. Google will probably choose to leave the site as an inactive placeholder, rather than populate it with any new Alphabet content, and it’s unknown how much they paid to gain control of the name. [Daily Telegraph]
Structure of Alphabet companies

Daniel Craig: ‘I would rather slash my wrists than do another Bond film’ –
Daniel Craig has said he would rather “slash my wrists” than do another James Bond film. The star, who will reprise his role as the British spy for the fourth time in the forthcoming SPECTRE movie, told Time Out magazine he wanted to “move on” from the franchise. But he added if he were to do another 007 film it would “only be for the money”. When asked whether he could imagine doing another Bond movie, he said: “Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.” [Daily Telegraph] In March 2015 Bond stars Daniel Craig and Roger Moore teamed up for a special 007 sketch for UK’s Comic Relief
Daniel Craig

France Train Hero Stabbed –
Spencer Stone suffered what police described as “significant” injuries during a street brawl while out with friends in Sacramento, California. The US airman is in a stable condition in hospital after reportedly being stabbed four times in the chest.The incident, which took place at 12.45am (local time) on Thursday morning, is not thought to be connected to terrorism. Mr Stone – along with friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler – was hailed as a hero in August after subduing a heavily armed gunman on a train heading from Amsterdam to Paris. [Sky News]
Chris Norman, Anthony Sadler, President Hollande, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos after their Legion of Honor ceremony at the Élysée Palace on August 25, 2015

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The War on Science – ASAP Science

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Government forces and their allies, including troops from a Saudi Arabian-led coalition, capture the town of Sirwah, the last outpost of Houthi militants in the key Marib province. (The Australian)
  • Yemeni military forces backed by Houthi militants reportedly destroy a Saudi warship off the coast of Yemen in the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. (Press TV) (Fars News) (Independent)
• Syrian Civil War, Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are reportedly ‘stepping up’ arms supplies to at least three Syrian rebel groups in response to the recent Russian intervention in the civil war. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Spencer Stone, one of the individuals involved in stopping the gunman in the August 2015 Thalys train attack, is stabbed in downtown Sacramento. He is in stable condition at a hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening wounds. (MSN)

Arts and culture

• Belarusian author and journalist Svetlana Alexievich wins the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) reach a new tentative four-year labor agreement, averting a threatened strike of the automaker’s U.S. operations. The agreement must be ratified by a vote of FCA’s 40,000 U.S. union workers, who rejected the previous proposal earlier this month. If ratified, the UAW intends to use the pact as a template for negotiations with General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Company. (Reuters) (Detroit Free Press)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Thousands of people are evacuated on the Japanese island of Hokkaido as Typhoon Choi-wan approaches from the east. (AAP via SBS)
• 2015 Southeast Asian haze
  • The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo announces that he will seek help from other nations in putting out illegally lit forest fires that have caused the haze. (Channel News Asia)
• Ecuador‘s restive Cotopaxi volcano erupts. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

• European migrant crisis
  • The German state of Bavaria plans “emergency measures” in response to the migrant crisis, including deporting migrants back to Austria and closing the border. An estimated 225,000 migrants have arrived in the southern German state in less than five weeks. (Yahoo)
• U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who had been the favorite to replace outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, withdraws from the race. (Fox News)

Sports

• 2015 FIFA corruption case: FIFA suspends Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke from all football-related activities for 90 days amid allegations of corruption. (BBC)

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